Coffee Banana Bread w. Chocolate Chips

Coffee Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:
2 eggs
4 ripe bananas
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted)

1/2 cup almond milk
3 1/2 tbsp Maxwell House Instant coffee

2 1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 bag of chocolate chips (270 gram)

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Instructions:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix wet ingredients:
1.In a medium sized bowl, mash bananas. 
2. In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs and chocolate chips. 
3. In another small cup, gently warm almond milk and mix in instant coffee until dissolved. 

Mix dry ingredients:
4. In a large bowl, combine flour and baking powder. 
5. Add in the wet ingredients and mix until a smooth consistency. 
6. Add in chocolate chips.
7. Bake in the oven for 32 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool before serving.

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"Better on your hips than ours!"
❤ The Midnight Bakers  ❤

8. The number of weekends left to spend time with TheGirls. The only thing that keeps me in the kitchen for hours, chatting up a storm catching up on our daily lives as if we don't see each other ever.

Had some overly ripe bananas that were in dying need of a recipe so we decided to make Coffee flavored banana bread ... with chocolate chips of course! Indira brought over a can of coconut milk and I had also bought two cans of coconut milk for no reason earlier today. Clearly we both had something coconut in mind whether it was intentional or not ... so ... we had to do something with it ... Chilled coconut squares it is!

We made 3 recipes in 3 hours tonight. In between baking two desserts, we made dinner. Somehow, weekend or weekday, we always end up baking until way past midnight ... so we got the name "Midnight Bakers". But, what does one do with all these sweets? We'd surely get fat if we ate it all ourselves! So ... we took in volunteers to eat them, give us your passcodes and/or house key and we'll leave them at your place! Delivered our first surprise baked goods at a friends' place and cleaned out his fridge from expired foods while we were at it ... it's kinda creepy to be sneaking into your friends' homes to leave sweets in their fridge while they're at work and a note saying:

"Dear Neighbor, Better on your hips than ours! xoxo the Mightnight Bakers" 

... so Indira came up with our new logo; the chef with a moustache. :) I'm so going to miss you Indira! :)

Emotions: The Parents

Showering out of a well in Buena Vista, Costa Rica
August 2006

February 3, 2014. It was decided. I'm moving to Costa Rica. There was no talking me out of it at this point.Was it crazy? Hell yeah. I was so excited, I wanted my family to be the first to know. But having looked back, I probably should have waited to tell them in person - I'm not good with expressing emotions. I'm only good at suppressing them. The message I sent was also not the greatest. My excitement over text sounded something like this:

 "Mom, Dad, I'm getting a one-way ticket back to Costa Rica in May. I'm quitting my job in April." 

Imagine the shock they must have felt at that time. Probably worse than a jolt of whiplash from a bad car crash. Their daughter just announced that she's moving to an LDC (less-developed country), a country they have never visited and zero comprehension of, let alone the culture and language barrier. They have only heard stories of my travels to Costa Rica since 2006 and, to my mom, those were nightmares. Staying at home stays, hostels, living in a shack off the beach, showering out of a well, and even coming home with an extremely bad eye infection back in 2010 where I almost lost an eye ... and still went surfing.

The first to respond to my proclamation was obviously my sister with "So it's official?" followed with her immediate claims to my furniture for her new apartment. Dad's immediate reaction was not what I had expected; a giant text of what I needed to get done, what needed to be sold, responsibilities between renting and selling my home, my car, and a friendly reminder of how little time two months is to get everything done. Nothing's im.possible. Mom stayed completely quiet; her silence was loud enough to me as it was on how she felt. 

At the time, I wanted to cry. I did cry. I felt unsupported, pushed away, and of all the people that I wanted to share the news with, I felt they were angry with me. In my mind, I felt that Dad was trying to make it difficult for me to make this dream a reality; with the long laundry list of items he summarized over a text message. I felt shoved into a corner of negative emotions but at the same time, I knew this was the right decision for me. I had already questioned my own sanity about making this dream a reality each time I came down. If I didn't at least try to make this dream a reality, I would regret it for the rest of my life. Nothing worth having ever comes easy. 

Sister. I poured my heart out to my sister. 6 years younger than me, sometimes I feel she's the older one. We ended up fighting. I couldn't comprehend her explanation of how mom and dad felt about my decision to move. We weren't seeing eye-to-eye. More so I wasn't seeing eye-to-eye with her. I was trapped in a negative emotional state where I suddenly felt like the blackest sheep in the family. How do I get myself out of this state? This is supposed to be a happy moment!

After a few days of reflection, I attempted conversation with my sister again. I am so thankful to have a sister like her, who can always put things into perspective when it comes to misunderstandings or mis-communications between Dad and I. A bridge.

Mom. Having spent a few weeks trying to sit in mom's shoes, as much as she wants to be happy for me in chasing my dreams ... as a mother, she probably wishes that it was someone else's daughter that she could have been happy for, just anyone else but her own. Her own flesh and blood leaving the nest to a land so foreign and far away (even though it's only a 5.5hour direct flight). I can see where she is coming from. Even in her sadness on my decision, I know she is happy for me, but the worrisome side of her will take the better of her and I know she will be crying her eyes out at the airport on May 11, 2014. It makes me teary eyed thinking of it - I know exactly how she will be that morning ... but I can't cry. I won't. I will hold it back until I walk past the gates and out of sight. This is why I learned to suppress my emotions, it doesn't help with everyone crying ... it will be a bittersweet moment.

Dad. With both of our strong personalities, it's really difficult to get along when it comes to decision making at times. At the time I announced my decision, I felt that he wasn't being a 'father' in terms of providing me with the emotional support I needed. But looking back, he was being a 'father' in his own way ... watching out for me, forcing me to be even more independent as he always has for me growing up. We just don't see eye to eye right away. It will always take me days, weeks, months to reflect on his actions before I come to understand them ... and I always feel like he's angry at me, but with my sister's constant reminders and reassurance, he's not. He just cares about me in his own way.

Sharing this decision to move to the country where noone wants to leave has been one emotional rollercoaster of a ride. It has not been easy with the parents. How I see it is, my parents fled from Hong Kong to escape 1997 for the freedom and better life in Toronto. I'm doing the same thing, I am 'fleeing' from Toronto for a 'better life' ... a lifestyle change that is better for me ... in an LDC ...

Toronto: Hobo living out of a bag

Literally. Living out of this bag for 4 days.

Since my house got listed this past Friday, the appointments for private showings have been going through the roof, with notifications coming through my phone endlessly. Counting just Saturday and Sunday alone, there were almost 30 showings. Most of the families that came to view the house were mostly Asian ... well, that only means three things ... money money money!!! 

Strategically we listed the house at a very attractive price range, lured in our buyers like fish with bait and casting our fish net on the final day. It's apparently the new thing with real estate agents now, a tactic to create a bidding war. I'm no big fan of wars or anything but in this case ... Let the bidding war begin!

While we create the scene for this bidding war, I've been kicked out of the battle field for five days so that the fish, I mean, our buyers, could visit the house with their agents throughout the day. My house is to be left in an absolutely pristine showroom state for this whole time which means, I don't even know where my shit is when I get home by midnight. Everything has been tucked away in every nook and cranny around the house.

I've been a homeless hobo for 3 days now, literally living out of a bag that consisted of my Choco Krispis, laptop, phone charger, hairbrush, beach towel and my Jasmine green tea bags. It surprises me that this is all I needed in the past few days, hopping from one friends' house to another and literally living out of my car with my dogs. With the busy schedule I have had, I have skipped so many meals that I can't be more thankful and appreciative to the friends who have fed me this past weekend.

Nick/Karen who not only let me crash on their couch after work and housing my furry kids during the day, but also feeding me Indian food like I can handle spices - I just look brown cause of my tan I'm not really brown!! :) Dave for feeding me with his homemade Italian style pasta dishes knowing that I skipped many meals. Derek/Flora who kept me company and in helping me get sick of bubbletea before I leave for Costa Rica. Indira for offering me her place to crash at first thing on Sunday morning. And, of course my family and especially my mom, who literally fed me from the moment I opened my eyes for breakfast straight through to dinner. Moms always feed you like you've never eaten before. Thank you mom. ❤

3 more days of hobo life to go! I can do this ...